When all around you are assholes, you are under no obligation to become one.

Dissembling as a Form of Recreation

I’ve noticed that many people regard the Syria caper as an international matter. That may be true beyond the borders of the United States but inside, it’s strictly homegrown. Many years ago the renowned Tip O’Neill, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, observed, “All politics is local.”

His grammar may not have been top flight, but he knew what he was talking about.

When a politician says something, anything, votes on a bill, writes something, or passes gas, he does so with only one objective in mind: will it get him or her elected or reelected?

That’s why it’s necessary to know a politician’s constituency if you want to understand with reasonable certainty his or her crazy utterances.

For example, suppose Ted Cruz, the junior Senator from Texas, says, “Obama is a Muslim.” What can you deduce about his constituency from this brief statement?

One interpretation is that Texans meant to call Obama “muslin,” a piece of soft cloth.

But that’s crazy, isn’t it? No one could make a mistake like that. Could they?

But let’s try another interpretation.

Cruz says, “Obama is a really nice guy,”

Right away you know his constituency consists of dissemblers, a very polite synonym for “lying through their teeth.”

Let’s try one more.

Cruz says Obama is a foreigner who isn’t qualified to be President.

What does this tell us?

Cruz’s constituents wish he would change his name to Cruise and become a Hollywood actor.

So what good does it do to know a politicians constituency?

Never make a deal with a dissembler.

(This is just a practice run to see if I can publish a blog using Word.)